More than 130 passengers on an EasyJet flight from Malaga to Bristol said they endured a holiday from hell after their journey home was delayed two horrific nights.

Passengers were due to fly back from the Spanish resort on Thursday evening, but didn't actually arrive back in Bristol until Saturday evening - all telling a catastrophic tale of poor service, no information, inadequate food or water, lost emergency coaches and tearful and exasperated cabin crew.

And just when they thought they were finally making their way home, early on Saturday afternoon, they realised EasyJet was putting them back onto the same broken-down plane - which then wouldn't start properly.

The passengers said they had to endure two nights in emergency hotels - the first for many was so dirty some slept in their clothes because they didn't want to get into the bed. Others said they saw cockroaches.

Many passengers said they were given an inadequate number of food vouchers to spend in their airport during their 40-hour delay.

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“It has been an absolute nightmare,” said Terri Hill, from Bristol, who was in Malaga on holiday with her boyfriend.

“We were due to fly back initially on Thursday evening, but were told that wasn’t going to happen. We got to the airport and the passengers from the early flight on Thursday morning still there in Malaga airport, and basically they got on our plane.

“They put us up in a hotel, and some of the people – including families with children – didn’t get to their hotels until 3am. Many of us found the hotels we were put up in were cockroach-infested – it wasn’t nice,” she added.

@davidagoodland on Twitter shared this picture and said 'tempers fraying' (Image: @davidagoodland)

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Ross Reyland and Lauren Adams were coming back from a holiday in Spain. Lauren, from Hanham, said the arrangements and communication from EasyJet were 'diabolical'.

"Once we were told that we would not be flying on Thursday night, we were still there three hours later finding coaches," said Lauren.

"We were sent to a two-star hotel which was appalling, we had no money for food and there was no food there. But the worst thing was the coach driver dumped us off on this main road and said the hotel was up this hill he couldn't go up.

"So there was elderly people trying to lug their suitcases across this busy main road and up this hill, to a hotel we didn't know where it was, at 2 or 3 in the morning, with no one there from EasyJet to show us or help us.

"And then they said we had to be ready at six in the morning for the coach to pick us up, so we had little more than two hours' sleep," she added.

Passengers finally boarding an EasyJet plane at Malaga bound for Bristol - two days later

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Their nightmare continued on Friday morning. Easyjet picked most of the people up by bus at 7am, although some chose to arrive by taxi later at 9am.

“Yesterday, we were supposed to fly out at 12.20pm – lunchtime on Friday – but that didn’t happen,” said Ms Hill.

“We were then told at 4.30pm ‘not today’, and were taken back to different hotels again," added Ms Hill.

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Some of the 150 or so passengers opted to make their own arrangements to fly back, and around 130 were still left in Malaga by Friday afternoon.

By this point, they had all formed a tight-knit group, and demanded better hotels and more information - but tempers flared.

"We were getting told so many different things by so many different people," said Naomi Amos, from Mangotsfield. "The reps and the crew from EasyJet were all arguing with the Spanish airport staff.

"Everyone moaned about the hotel from the night before, so we demanded and got a four star hotel for the second night.

"They were talking about renting a plane in Malaga to fly us home, but when that didn't happen, it kicked off a bit in the airport.

"The police in the airport got involved, and people started filming what was going on with people arguing and the police. Then the Spanish police went around and literally ripped the phones out of people's hands and scrolled through to delete whatever they'd filmed," she added.

Terri Hill said the worst-affected were the families with children, like Nathan and Jemma Hooper, from Stroud, who had holidayed in Spain with their four children under ten and Jemma's mum Theresa Lawrence.

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"It was horrendous, the whole thing," she said. "It's the lack of communication that is the worst thing."

"Not one of the staff there knew what was going on - each staff member would say a different story," added Nathan. "They'd tell us they were going to do one thing and then do another."

Eventually, on the Saturday, they were brought back to the airport, put on a plane, only for the engine not to work and for the pilot to let them have the vote to see if they should fly or not.

They decided not to, and endured another four hours before they were put onto a plane that was originally meant to fly back to Gatwick.

The passengers took to Twitter - story continues below

"There were two queues," said one woman arriving at Bristol Airport. "We were queuing up after being told we would be boarding this plane, and next to us were all the people who were queuing thinking they were going to Gatwick, being told there was a problem with their plane's air conditioning so they weren't going to fly.

"There wasn't a problem with the plane's air-conditioning, their problem was we were getting on their plane," she added.

During their 40-hour, two night ordeal, the passengers bonded and amid emotional scenes at Bristol Airport, bade farewell and promised to keep in touch.

One of the passengers assumed the role of spokesman for the group, and said they are planning a group legal action. As the passengers talked to the Bristol Post outside the airport, they received texts from EasyJet telling them they had been compensated - it is thought by £350 per person.

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"This is the minimum for one flight cancellation," said one disgusted passenger. "Effectively, we've had our flight cancelled three times, and then there's the trauma of what actually happened to us."

The group spokesman, who declined to be named, praised the pilot and cabin crew on their final flight, who were 'absolutely amazing'. He said some of them were in tears at what was happening.

"The pilot was called Dave Hughes and he was an absolute hero," he said. "He said he'd never seen anything like this in 37 years of flying.

"The whole thing came down to EasyJet not seeming to want to pay the extra to get us home quicker. They were treating us as just numbers, but everyone - as a group - dealt with it very well.

"The most astonishing thing for me was that when we landed at Bristol just now, considering everything that has happened to us, that there wasn't a single person from EasyJet management waiting for us. They didn't even know what had been going on here in Bristol," he said.

“It has been an absolute nightmare," added Terri Hill. "Throughout this, we’ve been given the grand total of two 9 Euro vouchers and one 4.50 Euro vouchers for food in the airport. That covers the cost of just a baguette and bottle of water.

“At the hotels, some of us had evening meal and breakfast, but others just had room only,” she added.

“There’s elderly people with us – one chap ran out of his diabetes medication. The kids on the flight have been exceptional, taking it all in their stride, but it’s just been hell,” she added. “People have come together in the face of this. It’s been a nightmare.”

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“EasyJet can confirm that the flight EZY9958 going from Malaga to Bristol on the 8 June has been overnight delayed due to a technical issue with the aircraft," said a spokeswoman for EasyJet.

"Our engineering team worked hard to allow passengers to reach their final destination and the departure flight had been scheduled for the 10 June.

"Passenger have been provided with meal vouchers, hotel accommodation and regulated updates.

"Prior departure on the 10 June a minor technical issue occurred and the decision was made to operate the flight with a replacement aircraft from London Gatwick. The flight departed from Malaga on the 10 June in the afternoon with 133 passengers onboard.

"easyJet fleet complies with all manufacturers requirements.

"easyJet passengers safety and wellbeing is our first priority.

"We sincerely apologize and would like to thank our passengers for their patience," the statement added.